The attachment of labels to cloth goods such as clothing, linens, and towels is a common practice used to set forth information such as trademarks and trade names, material identification and characteristics, sizes, care instructions, and so forth. Legal requirements necessitate the use of labels in clothing or on linens.
Folded labels are commonly used in the industry and come in a number of different forms including endfolds, centerfolds, J folds, Booklet fold, Manhattan-folds, and mitrefold labels. While each of these different forms has a particular use, the centerfold and end-fold labels are the most popular. FIG. 1 illustrates a centerfold label 2 in a shirt. FIGS. 2–4 illustrate different views of an end fold label of the present invention. While FIGS. 5–7 illustrate different views of a Manhattan fold label of the present invention.
In addition to providing this important information, the label is part of the object. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for a label, especially a skin contact clothing label, to irritate the customer. This can result in the customer forming a negative attitude regarding the quality of the entire garment. Quite often the customer will cut the offending label out of the garment. This not only prevents the customer from having the proper care instructions; it also removes the product identification from the garment, further reducing repeat sales.
Currently most folded labels are produced using what is referred to in the industry as the “cut and fold” technique, that is the labels are indexed, cut from a ribbon of material and then folded. Using this technique about 40–220 labels can be produced a minute with between 5–20% of the labels being considered waste or defective. The most common defect being a distorted fold resulting in the ends (6) of the label (4) not aligning properly, as illustrated in FIG. 8. Other defects include turned corners, fanning, and protruding fold unders.
Defective labels can significantly increase the cost of the goods. For example, while it costs only about fifteen to twenty-five cents to sew a label into a garment in the United States, it can cost five to ten times this amount to replace a defective label. Many labels, especially centerfold, have a tendency to skew while being sewed, thereby increasing the chance for a poor impression. If the defective label is not detected and replaced, the goods may have to be classified as seconds and sold at a steep discount. Significantly, if the identification of the defective label is missed it is likely to be recognizable by the customer and adversely affect the overall impression of the goods.
It would be desirable to be able to produce folded labels that are more comfortable to the apparel customer than current labels, at a higher speed and greater efficiency of production for both label and end product manufacturers, and with fewer defects than current methods.
There are systems that produce printed labels by first folding a tape imprinted with a label design and then, with a cold knife, cutting the folded tape. Such a system is utilized by Scatto-GI Due's (Italy) CONCORD printer. However, the system employed using the CONCORD unit would not be suitable for used with woven fabrics.